yeah just remembered that um. this is what jaskier looked like the last time yennefer saw him before rience kidnapped and tortured him. an almost-teasing but genuine smile curling at his lips with soft light surrounding him and nothing but warmth in his eyes when he looked at her
and then. when she saw him again after hours of trying to find him. (after hearing him cry out and giving up her one chance at safety to go look for him). he looked like this
all that warmth and softness gone as he trembled from both fear and the cold as red splattered around his lips that parted in a scream as one of his ever-crucial hands was burned.
and he still found the words to try to make rience show her mercy. btw. just a fucking reminder i guess
one thing I actually loved was when Jaskier was given the opportunity to end Rience he pulled no punches, I think his words were "get rid of him" GET RID OF HIM. none of that I'm not stooping to their level, show mercy shit, just straight up kill that guy. of course he knew how much of a threat Rience is to Geralt and Ciri but also he's touching his hands in that scene where Rience burnt him, his eyes are spaced out like he's going right back to that moment, this is very much revenge for himself as well.
I think Jaskier has always had that way about him like when he wished on the Djinn (though obviously it didn't work) for Valdo Marx to die but it's seen as a joke and his naivety when it comes to death and murdering and having blood on your hands plays a part, he's wishing death over a petty bard rivalry. But with Rience he doesn't have that naivety anymore and he still just mercilessly demands his outright death.
Julian means “Jove’s Child”, Jove being an alternate name for Jupiter, the King of the Gods in Roman mythology, their equivalent to the Greek Zeus. I like the mythology reference in his name considering in the Netflix series he references the Muses, Greek Goddesses of inspiration.
Julian can also mean “youthfulness”, which is fun since he doesn’t seem to age.
As pointed out by @kaiseaya — Julian is the only name still in use in Poland, as well as the most common name on here in other countries such as England or Germany, effectively making Jaskier’s Name seem more ‘normal’ in comparison to other names on the list. He’s just a guy.
Alfred means “elf counsellor” and I think this fact has destroyed me. So what if I said he was destined to become the sandpiper? What then?
Pankratz has Greek origins, from pan, meaning ‘all’, and kratein, meaning ‘to rule/to conquer’. So Pankratz therefore means “to conquer all” or “to rule everything”. It’s also said to have German origins.
Jaskier, as everyone in this fandom knows, is “buttercup”, though it was translated as Dandelion in English because “buttercup was too feminine. Buttercups symbolise friendship, joy, and youth. Dandelions represent resilience and hope, and are used to make wishes. Netflix does utilise the ‘dandelion’ name, when he’s referred to as ‘The Dandelion’ while in Radovid’s room in season 3.
Sandpipers are shorebirds that would probably be close to Jaskier’s hometown since it’s coastal. They represent safe travels, adaptability, and long journeys, which fits the role the name was made for.
Yennefer of Vengerberg
Her name should be spelled Jennifer, but was apparently translated as Yennefer to keep the polish pronunciation, rather than having the pronunciation Jennifer would have in the English language.
Jennifer is Welsh, meaning “white ghost” or “fair lady”
It’s derived from Guinevere, who was the ‘beautiful but unfaithful’ wife of King Arthur in British medieval literature/legend
She has the ‘of x’ place name rather than surname. It seems the only characters with this are orphaned characters?
Vengerberg sounds like ‘avenger’ or ‘revenge’. Berg is a common suffix in German place names (where Aedrin is supposedly based on), and it means “mountain”
In the books, her birthname was Janka, which means “god is gracious”. A nickname for Janka is Jenny (read: Yenny) which is likely what would’ve inspired Yennefer
Janka almost reminds me of the name Falka, the Redanian princess accused of being an elf who murdered her family, removed Stregobor’s hands, and was burnt at the stake. In late season 3 we see Falka teaching Ciri to use fire magic, stepping into Yennefer’s role in some ways, teaching Ciri the thing that caused Yennefer herself so many problems
Both of her lovers (Istredd and Geralt) give her a shortened nickname. Istredd calls her ‘Yenna’, Geralt calls her ‘Yen’. This paints Geralt and Istredd as both being two sides of the same coin. Geralt specifically giving a nickname is definitely a love language as, aside from Yennefer, the only other nickname he’s used is Jask for Jaskier
Her other notable nickname is ‘Piglet’, by Tissaia, a name she is referred to as for being in the pigsty when Tissaia met her, that she stops using when she feels Yennefer has earned her respect. This way of teaching, Yennefer uses on Ciri later, calling her ‘My Ugly One’
Geralt of Rivia
Geralt is apparently Germanic in origin, meaning “ruler of the spear”
I like that both him and Jaskier have something to do with ruling somewhere in their names
We know that, at least in the series canon, attributes the name to Vesemir, and is upset by (the hallucination of) his mother using it. We don’t know his birth name
He is not actually from Rivia. We do not know where he is actually from, I don’t think.
To keep up this act of being from Rivia, he picked up a Rivian accent. Rivian accents are looked down upon by other people in the Contient, specially from Aedirn and Temeria
His first choice for his name was Geralt Roger Eric du Haute-Bellegarde
Roger means “famous spear”, Eric means “alone, ruler”. Haute-Bellagarde is French in origins, haute meaning “high” and Bellegarde meaning “beautiful watch tower”
Therefore, Geralt’s original name, in full, would’ve meant “Lone Ruler of the Famous Spear from the High, Beautiful Watch-Tower”
Everyone say thank you Vesemir for making him not do that
Cirilla Fiona Elen Riannon
Cirilla, Greek origin (my ‘Ciri and Jaskier are both descendants from Éile and Fjall from blood origin’ headcanon is. It’s doing things). Means “ruler”
Fiona means “white” or “fair”
Fiona is also one of the names Francesca brought up to name her and Filavandrel’s daughter.
Elen is derived from the Greek ‘Helen’, meaning “shining torch” or simply “light”. Helen, as in Helen of Sparta — the ‘face who launched a thousand ships’. The Trojan war was fought to bring her home after she was kidnapped
Riannon is welsh, meaning “great queen” or “goddess”
Calanthe also has Fiona Elen Riannon as part of her name. Pavetta has only Fiona Elen
Ciri has a relative with Riannon as a first name. Riannon had a daughter named Fiona. Those two were connected with Falka. She also has a relative named Elen
Cahir Mawr Dyffryn aep Caellach
Cahir is Irish, meaning “Battle man” or “warrior”
Mawr means “great” and is Welsh
His mother was named Mawr, which is presumably where he got that name. I have a few trans!Cahir headcanons from this that the world is not ready for
Dyffryn is his family name, also Welsh, meaning “valley”. They were nobles in Vicovaro, owning land named Dyffra.
Caellach is his father’s name, leading me to believe that aep means ‘of’ or ‘son of’.
Caellach is Irish. The fact that his family name is Welsh like his mother’s name, while his father’s name and first name are both Irish, lead me to beliehe that the family name (and by extension the nobility) is the mother’s, but I haven’t read the books so I don’t know for sure
Emhyr Var Emreis
Emhyr is also Welsh, and yet again means “ruler”. It has been pointed out that it’s similar to Emir (Turkish) and amir (Arabic), both of which mean “Commander in Charge”
Emreis is like Emrys, also Welsh, meaning immortal. If this isn’t a surname in the traditional sense but instead a title or epithet, perhaps Var means ‘the’, making him Emhyr The Immortal
His full name, as we learn in s3, is Emhyr Var Emreis Deithwen Addan yn Carn aep Morvudd
Deithwen being “white flame” in elder speech
Addan, according to the Witcher Wiki, is “dancer/dancing” in the Nilfgaardian language, yn is “on”, and Carn is “tomb”, and Morvudd is “enemies”. We established earlier aep is probably ‘of’
His full name, therefore, is as follows: “Emhyr (Ruler), The Immortal White Flame Dancing on the Tomb of the Enemy”
Duny, the name he used when marrying Pavetta, means “having many sand-dunes”, so I don’t know what that’s about
He called himself the Urcheon of Erlenwald — Urcheon meaning “hedgehog”, and Erlenwald being the forest where he saved Calanthe’s husband (therefore earning Pavetta)
Pavetta
Pavetta is a genus of tropical flower found in Africa and Asia. Latin. The flowers under this genus are white from what I can tell. It apparently also translates to “young leaves”
Reminds me of her colour scheme in the Netflix series, her green dress being the leaves and her light blonde hair being the white flower part
As mentioned before, Pavetta has Fiona Elen, meaning “fair, shining torch”, but she doesn’t have Riannon: great queen. This makes me sad.
Vespula
Vespula is a genus for “social wasps”, their common name being yellow jackets
She’s a wasp, Jaskier is a flower. Wasps are attracted to and pollenate flowers. They were made for each other.
It also comes from Latin ‘vulgaris’ meaning common (as in, common wasp) which is a bit less sweet? Lmao
One of the species under this genus is the cuckoo wasp, and cuckoos symbolise marriage in Greek Myth, as well as being a bird (matching Jaskier’s Sandpiper)
Wasps, in general, symbolise taking control of your life, evolution and progress. However, more general in day-to-day life, they’re seen as annoying and a less-sympathetic version of a bee.
Unlike bees, wasps do not die after stinging you,. They can, and will, sting you repeatedly. (Vespula can, and will, keep throwing Jaskier’s stuff off the balcony. In every adaptation she is a constant)
Fringilla Vigo
Fringilla is another genus. I don’t know why so many of the women have genus names but sure. This is specifically a genus of finches
Finches are quite small, and they’re part of the passerine family which are known for having feet structured specifically for perching
Vigo, aside from being a city in Spain, means “small village” or “settlement”
Philippa Eilhart
Philippa is Greek origin meaning “lover of horses”. The Greek origin specifically here is quite fun because Philipppa shapeshifts into an owl, and Athena, Goddess of Wisdom (Philippa being Redanian intelligence) is associated with owls, while her uncle and Poseidon is associated with horses. Athena also came up with the Trojan horse idea, but I find the Poseidon thing more interesting as Poseidon has a rivalry with Athena, therefore there’s a rivalry between horses and owls, but Philippa, an owl, loves them
Eilhart could be from the Germanic ‘eil’, coming from ‘agil’, meaning “weapon” and ‘hart’ being “strong”, making her “strong weapon”. Alternatively, someone on Reddit also brought up the closeness of ‘eil’ to the German word ‘eule’ which means owl, in which case her last name could mean “strong owl”. Both are fitting in my opinion.
Radovid V
Radovid is Slavic, mainly Polish or Czech, meaning “renowned counsellor”. Both him and Jaskier having ‘counsellor’ in their name means a lot to me.
Other sources say Radovid means “delight to see” — someone remarked that non-Netflix Radovid ‘delights to see others suffer’. Alternatively, it may also mean “to see glory”
Rience
Welsh, apparently derived from Rhiannon, though Rience specifically focuses on the ‘goddess’ meaning of that name, and means “a magical and enchanting goddess”, apparently, which is quite funny to me
However, there was also a Rience in Arthurian legend, the thing that Yennefer’s ‘Guinevere’ comes from. He is an enemy of King Arthur (surely, with Yennefer being the ‘unfaithful wife’ and Rience being the enemy, Arthur would be Geralt? But then who does Yen cheat on him with? The closest thing Geralt has to a Lancelot, or close companion, is probably Jaskier. Oops)
everyone acts like the hair/scruff doesn’t matter between seasons but please trust me when i say if Jaskier had his twinkskier™ little bard hair swoop and clean shave during that Rience torture scene, i know that fuckery would have hurt me deeply in a way i would never have recovered from
Y'know those post s2 fics where Jaskier hides the fact that he was tortured from Geralt bc the witcher has enough on his plate and he doesn't want to be a burden?
